Four Months of Houses

This year, I have set myself the goal of building a Micropolis module every week. I sketched out a rough plan and started building houses.

I really like the Micropolis standard. The consistent scale and low barrier to entry make it an excellent introduction to building in microscale. The collaborative cities that we put together at conventions are exciting, but they rarely look much like a cohesive city. That inspired me to expand my motley collection of Micropolis modules into a city of my own.

For my project, I decided to start with a residential neighborhood that was mostly single family homes. These tend to be ignored by builders in favor of larger, flashier structures. Also, houses are deceptively hard. Those tiny, complicated roofs are difficult too replicate and the decorative features are often too small to depict.

In all, I built 17 residential modules. They aren’t all houses, but they all fit into a the kind of residential neighborhood that I’m used to seeing here in Portland.

Tea Plantation House

Domino Foursquares

Big House

Tumble House

Mismatched Houses

Blue Houses

Open Square

Gray & Lavender Houses

Community Gardens

Armory Apartments

Two-Tone & Yellow Houses

Blue House & Empty Lot

Masonry Houses

Brown & Pink Houses

Magenta House

Primary Houses

Brown & Blue Houses

I feel like I built a nice variety of homes, and it certainly flushed out the small selection of houses that were already in my collection. I deviated from the Micropolis standard a bit for most of these modules, setting the sidewalk back from the street by a stud to allow trees to line the streets. I’ve always preferred residential neighborhoods that have this feature, as it makes them so much more pleasant to walk.

These modules combine with some of my older models to create a mixed suburban neighborhood.

I’m very happy with how they’ve all gone together! I still have a lot to learn about taking better pictures of these layouts, but I think that this captures some of the beauty.

The next phase of the project has me building a stretch of canal that will separate this neighborhood from the high-rise commercial center of my city.